Discuss: Polar Bear

These creatures are totally dangerous!! I heard in alaska this guy just had to go get coffee at 4 am in the morning, and on his way it was pitch black and the guy ran into a polar bear and the polar bear smashed the whole front end of the car up!! The dude couldn’t make his own coffee at home, it’s like cooome oooon man!!!!!!!

Agreed, Polar Bears are dangerous, but that is because we have invaded their territory and we always forget that, maybe you think we’re better that mere animals but if you don’t wake up and smell the coffee you’re going to be on the endangered species list pretty soon if we don’t try to combat global climate change.  I’m always amazed at the complete lack of respect for the natural world and how we fit into it…….

how old are you alan?

you don’t need to say if you don’t want to!

I’m pushing 40, why do you ask?

No we have NOT invaded the Bear’s Territory.
Humans and animals SHARE space. The trick is to share it well.
People who try to maintain culturally enforced lines of division between wild and tame are the biggest part of the problem.
The wild is all around you whether in cities or in the Arctic.
Picking one species as a poster emblem is also part of the problem. It’s only of use to those who consume the wild a distant fantasy; a postcard or TV show.
The Polar Bear will NOT go extinct. Even the worst predictions still believe the bears will survive into the high arctic.
We don’t need poster species and nice white middle class folks wringing their hands while spouting eco-platitudes.
We need a much wider understanding that takes into account the value of bears to the Northern economy, diet, culture and eco-system.
It’s complicated but necessary. Anything else is mere pantomime and cathartic posing.

JS, we hear a lot of things about bears, especially in Alaska, and having spent the last few years studying and working with bears in Alaska, Montana, and Canada, I can attest that MOST of the things we hear about bears are wildly inaccurate.  Polar bears, like all wild animals, are dangerous to a degree, but bears in general try to avoid conflict, and polar bears especially, because they need to conserve energy in the harsh arctic climate.  Doug Peacock told me yesterday that he believes every time a person is charged by bear, it is the person’s fault.  Whether or not this is true, human need to get our act together—we are the only species consciously and intentionally destroying our habitat and that of our fellow life forms.  Polar bears may adapt to find other food sources, but the question is, will humans tolerate them?  Over the past few years, we have seen polar bears moving inland and out of their normal range, seeking anthropogenic food sources, getting killed by people who will not tolerate them or are not accustomed to sharing their homes with polar bears.  Ian Stirling says these are anecdotal incidents, but they are consistent with predictions associated with climate change. Human- polar bear conflicts since 1984 in Hudson Bay have spiked in years of less sea ice. Over the last few years in Churchill, MB, I have witnessed people baiting polar bears with dog food, dogs, and fryer grease to increase tourism profits with the least possible work.  I have also seen helicopter tours harassing polar bears with cubs, chasing them as they fled.  Now tell me, are humans sharing habitat with polar bears, as they have for thousands of years with minimal conflict, or are they invading polar bear habitat, now that there is money to be made?  The polar bear as a poster child for climate change does not look at the entire picture, but if it gets people’s attention and wins their sympathies, that is good enough for me.

Thank you Shannon, someone to make sense of it all, I’m off now to wring my proverbial white middle class hands about something else I know nothing about, shame on me for caring!?!